{"id":12670,"date":"2016-02-26T20:25:06","date_gmt":"2016-02-27T01:25:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/margiewarrellold.flywheelsites.com\/?p=12670"},"modified":"2016-02-26T20:25:06","modified_gmt":"2016-02-27T01:25:06","slug":"unconscious-bias-derailing-your-decisions","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/margiewarrell.com\/unconscious-bias-derailing-your-decisions\/","title":{"rendered":"Is unconscious bias derailing your decisions?"},"content":{"rendered":"

A few months back a friend shared how she was on the fence about hiring a man for a role as a financial advisor because he was 60\u00a0and seemed \u2018a bit old\u2019 despite being imminently qualified. I encouraged her not to let his age deter her from taking him on if he was the best candidate on every other measure. She did and he’s become\u00a0an invaluable\u00a0addition to her team.<\/p>\n

Our tendency to stereotype based on an external attribute – from age to gender to religion – is just one of a host of \u2018cognitive biases\u2019 wired into our psychological DNA. \u00a0If you’re a woman then you’ve almost certainly been at the other end of someone else’s unconscious (or conscious!) bias, including your own! Yes, we women actually have an unconscious bias against our own gender!<\/p>\n

Our unconscious biases serve a purpose but if we aren\u2019t careful our unconscious biases can drive us to make snap decisions and judgments that move us further away from what we most want rather than toward it. Here’s a few more.<\/p>\n

Confirmation Bias<\/strong><\/p>\n

Called “Confirmation bias”, we\u00a0each\u00a0have a tendency to actively seek out information that supports our values, choices and opinions and to discount or ignore information that contradicts them. <\/em>It\u2019s why we like to hang out with people who see things they way we do, and steer away from those who don\u2019t. But it can keep us from exploring alternative, and possibly even more useful, perspectives and options. Just imagine the possibilities that would open up if our politicians spent more time understanding alternate views rather than espousing their own?!\"Tweet:<\/a><\/p>\n

Risk Aversion Bias<\/strong><\/p>\n

Likewise, when considering making a change, we\u2019re innately biased toward focusing more on what we could lose than what we could gain; on what could go wrong than on what might go right! As Nobel Laureate Dr Daniel Kahnemam\u00a0observed in Thinking, Fast and Slow<\/em>, “Losses loom larger than gains.” This tendency drives risk aversion and explains why people opt to languish\u00a0in mediocre jobs and lousy relationships for years rather than take a chance on something better. It\u2019s also why one of the greatest regrets of the dying is that they wished they\u2019d taken more risks and been braver.<\/p>\n

Sunk Cost Bias <\/strong><\/p>\n

Another common bias is our\u00a0tendency to give too much weight to what\u00a0we\u2019ve already invested in a course of action when we are deciding whether to persist with it. Coined the\u00a0\u2018sunk cost\u2019 bias<\/a>, it explains why otherwise smart people sometimes \u2018throw good money after bad\u2019 and why you\u2019ve likely had something you hardly wear taking up room in your closet far too long because you paid a lot for it. (If you\u2019d like to read my previous column on this titled \u201cIs it time to call it quits<\/em>?\u201d click here.<\/a> )<\/p>\n

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